Edeltraud had, finally, found the cave she was looking for. It was closer than she'd imagined--very near the cave she'd hatched in. As a child, shed seen the strong winds and immediately turned around. Winds swept about, battering rock and sand, galvanized by some unseen force. And there, hidden in the back of a rocky shelf, hid Edeltraud.

Her wool was in a state of disarray after being blown in random directions for several minutes. The end result was a sheep looking much like a preteen's first anime OC. Bly faired better, given its short hairs and sticky foot pads. Edeltraud sat on her hind legs in her crevice, blinking wide eyes.

"My, this is certainly a...unique location." She said. Given the winds, she might as well have whispered that.

It wasn't all bad, though. As she hid in her shelf, another creature chose to take shelter there. A little bird fluttered in, it's chest heaving. Feathers glinted a vibrant rainbow as it twitched and moved. It took notice of them, but rather than fleeing, it tilted its head at the pair. Edeltraud gasped. How pretty! Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Bly creeping forward in what was almost certainly the beginning of a stalk. "Bly--no, Shoo! You're not hunting this one!" Edeltraud said, warning the spider off with a hoof stamp.

"Ah, my apologies little friend. How pretty your feathers are! Are you lost, little bird?" It tweeted softly. Edeltraud stepped forward. It didn't flee--that made things easier. "My, what a pretty song... you're adorable!" She said to it. Two steps. To her shock, it moved closer, tilting it's head at her face. She smiled. Edeltraud had to have this one for her collection. She couldn't risk this one fleeing.

Before it thought better of it, Edeltraud bloomed bulbous puffballs along her snout. That put fear into it. The rainbow spinner opened it's wings, but not before a puff of spores hit it. It flexed it's wings once, twice, but found it hard to actually leave the ground. What with it forced to fight off drowsiness.

Edeltraud did not capitalize on it immediately-- she was busy. The sheep scratched at her head with a hoof, scraping off half-formed puffballs. Most of those hadn't bloomed. "Mmh, I'll have to do better next time." Edeltraud cleared her throat. "Sorry for the delay--you'll be my friend, yes?"

The answer was easy. Yes. But not by choice. The rainbow spinner froze, black fruiting bodies blooming in the spots that weren't obstructed by feathers or scales. Edeltraud cooed at it. How delightful. How adorable. The spots of black complimented the glittering feathers nicely. The befriending process wasn't as much of a rush as she'd felt with Bly, but it was still a new doll. She supposed she's have to name them. Edeltraud thought on it for a couple of seconds, before another name came to her easily.

"Freda." Edeltraud said, tasting the name on her tongue. "Freda, it fits you, yes? Come here, land on my horns, dear Freda." She said. Freda easily obliged. A fresh grin split Edeltraud's lips. There were only two, but the three of them were hardly alone together. She waited in that crevice with the two of them until the wind died down. Then, with a shake of her wool, she trotted out of her hidey hole.

"Come now, dolls! We must find the Collector!" Edeltraud trotted further down her little cliff, stopping once she found a nice open spot upon which to project her voice. Edeltraud cleared her throat.

"Collector?" She called. "You have visitors!" The fact made her giddy. The three of them! Together!

"My, what a fascinating little trio," came his crooning voice, a swish of black cloth announcing his exact location: behind a nearby boulder, one whose shadow he now stepped from.

He swept close, unhurried, bending to examing Edeltraud's "friends." "...Fascinating," he murmured, and then stood upright. "I am so glad your kind can still find me, even if I have moved on from the bones. Now tell me, what can I do for you--and yours..?"

@Edeltraud

Her giddiness was immediately shot through, leaving a gaping hole of doubt and anxiety. The collector was...tall. Yes, shed heard of him, but she was dwarfed. Prey fear coiled in her stomach. Edeltraud cleared her throat. "My!" She squeaked. "You must be the...ah, Collector." She swallowed the terror enough to toss her head in a anxious curtsy. "I apologize--I did not expect you to tower so. Ah, anyways, I am Edeltraud, and these are my lovely dolls, Freda and Bly." Edeltraud couldn't help the warm smile that bloomed on her face as she mentioned them.

"Well, I have an issue, hm..? I was hoping you might have something to help. You see, I love my dolls dearly but ah...I must maintain their blooms so often, you see?" Edeltraud turned to Bly, willing the black growths to grow. Instead, she felt her own flesh become pierced through by black stalks, a haze assaulting her vision. Along with a strange, fierce desire to protect Bly. That at least not too different from usual. "Caves, did I do it to myself? Ah, you see it would be quite a hassle were my collection to expand." Edeltraud sighed.

"If it were to, I fear them fighting or--caves forbid eating one another! They don't quite listen to me-- I'd rather not throw myself into harms way of Freda's venom to protect Bly, though I love both dearly. Nor would I want to harm Freda, the thought is enough to horrify! Do you think you have anything that could help us?"

@game master dark

The grin he offered, beneath the hood, was leering.

"Ahh, my new little ovine friend, but that is the fault of the magic you are using. Yours is corruptive, controlling. It severs nerves and surrenders control. It does not allow you to guide them. But! I have a solution for that."

He reached into his cloak, and a clawed hand withdrew a tarnished, thin silver chain, with a pendant dangling from it. This pendant looked rather like a crow's skull, vertical, yet its eyes glowed with soft pink-purple light.

""Have you ever heard of the Beastmaster's Talisman-?" he asked. His head tilted, slightly, his croon growing soft, charismatically hypnotic. ""It was famous, once, on the surface world. It will grant you the power to draw lesser Gembound into your sway--many of them, in fact. Admittedly, it will need to be maintained... the more you gather, the more weary you might find yourself. But it will indeed allow control. Of course," he added, withdrawing it back out of sight abruptly, pressed to his chest, "all of my gifts come at a cost. So... if this item interests you, Edeltraud... may I ask what you might have to offer-?"

@Edeltraud

Edeltraud sniffed. "My, corruptive, controlling? What harsh words for my magic! I don't consider it so. I prefer to think of it of more...swaying them to the right path." Edeltraud smilled. "But your talisman here; it is quite lovely. Beastmaster's talisman you say? I can't say I've heard of it, but it must've earned that title." Edeltraud stuck her head an inch closer to the giant scary man to sniff at the crow-skull pendant. It had an odd beauty, despite the dreary decay on full display. She sighed dreamily.

"I must admit, I find it quite interesting... pleasing to the eyes. But its missing something-- I might add more flowers to it, were you not to mind, Collector." She glanced up with a smile. "And well, I think weariness an easy trade for an entire collection of sweet dolls just like the ones I have here. My, I can imagine it now! I'm sure you two would love company, hm..?"

Her smile faded into a frown and furrowed brows of thought. He wanted trade? Of course, she should've known!

"Oh my, trade? I regret to tell you I did not come with much to trade." She glanced down at first herself, then her companions. Revulsion swept through her at the idea of trading one of her dolls. The idea of giving one of her beloved in trade was abhorrent! That only left her items-- a half pendant, and a wonderfully floral scented bag. She did not even consider her wool, though it weighed heavily on her hide--after all, who would want to take another's hair in trade?

"Hm, would you consider my pendant? I'm afraid its the only thing I find myself willing to part with, asides my magic. I find myself too attached to my bag and my dolls, as I'm sure you can understand."

@Game Master Dark

The Collector eyed the half-pendant, and leaned back a smidge after a brief examination.

"An interesting object, certainly... but I am sure you will agree that a broken object is not a fair trade--not at all, indeed--for an intact and enchanted one. No," he continued on, airily, lifting the Beastmaster's Talisman to study it--and it gleamed and glinted as it spun on its chain. "I rather think this will command a higher price. I do apologize for the misunderstanding... but I am a merchant." Crimson pinprick eyes found and locked on Edeltraud, unblinking. Reproachful? Perhaps, or merely thoughtful.

"Perhaps you would not mind promising your gemstone to me, should you ever perish..? It would pass to me, and I would... collect. Otherwise... I fear you will need to find a higher price to pay."

@Edeltraud

"Oh dear, I didn't think too much on it--how foolish. My, I didn't mean to insult you with such a trade, Collector! Now, my gemstone as trade...?" Edeltraud wasnt aware of the extent of her stone's purpose, but she couldn't help but feel it was important. Thats where all her magicka came from. It was an intrinsic part of her. Yet she couldn't see herself dying--at least not anytime soon. If she were not to take the deal, she would miss out on so many dear dolls. So many dear friends! And besides, what said she was forced to give this stone? She could weasel her way out of this somehow, she was sure.

She could as a gembound to hide her stone, should she pass, or choose die somewhere he wouldn't find. Yes, she had the advantage here. A soft smile exposed a trickle of her devious little thoughts. Edeltraud cleared her throat.
"Well, I don't see why not! I'd give anything for my beloved dolls. You may have my stone, should the event that I pass come to be. I can tell you though, you may be waiting a while." She chuckled. "Why, I dont see me throwing myself into any perilous sitiuations anytime soon! May I ask, though, how would you...say, know that I've come to pass?" Edeltraud cocked her head, an ear flopping over as cutely as she could manage, barely managing to turn her smile into a pondering frown.